Shocked

My Mother, Schiaparelli, and Me

From the acclaimed author of Stuffed: an intimate, richly illustrated memoir that juxtaposes two fascinating lives -- the iconoclastic designer Elsa Schiaparelli and the author's own mother, Audrey Morgen Volk, an upper-middle-class New Yorker -- to explore how a girl fashions herself into a woman.

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"Growing up in fashion-conscious circles in New York City, author Patricia Volk admired and loved her beautiful mother Audrey, observing her ability to maintain her gorgeous image and her womanly mystique. Despite being impressed with her mother, though, Patricia couldn't adhere to Audrey's expectations. At age ten she discovered a very different model of womanhood when she read fashionista Elsa Schiaparelli's memoir A Shocking Life. In her memoir Shocked, Patricia reviews the contradictory effects of these two role models on her persona as she depicts her life and the New York society that formed her. Employing sharply witty vignettes, she paints a portrait of three lives -- her own, her mother's, and Schiaparelli's. "Witty, tender, and vividly nostalgic," Biography and Memoir February 2014 newsletter http://www.libraryaware.com/996/NewsletterIssues/ViewIssue/0e887225-0b8a-4fa1-a3f4-f7a1eba4ffe0?postId=0eb00fdc-2a64-4083-8ac8-384add517db0

This unusual memoir grabbed me with its examination of womanhood and style through the eyes of a young girl. Author Patricia Volk describes her two most powerful role-models--her beautiful and controlled mother, Audrey Volk, and Elsa Schiaparelli, the risk-taking and avante garde fashion designer. Topical essays compare Audrey and Elsa's opinions on clothing, friends, and womanhood with a rich combination of anecdotes and photos. While "Shocking" is a quick, fun read, Patricia Volk is very insightful about the complex ways that we construct an attitude toward life and style.

I love e books! Love them love them love them. A plus for this book's e version: I used the built-in dictionary a few times. A negative: there are photos in the book. I could see them on my old school, e-ink nook, but I imagine they're in color in the pront version. Hey! They'd probably be in color in tablet version, too!